Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Australia: Korumburra earthquake sparks earth tremors across Melbourne


The Telegraph
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:52 UTC
australian earthquake melbourne
© Herald Sun
Melbourne has been rocked by a series of earth tremors after a small earthquake hit Korumburra in Gippsland.

Geoscience Australia recorded the 4.4 magnitude quake as hitting at 11.37am.

The tremors, which lasted up to 15 seconds, were felt across Melbourne's southeastern suburbs.

So far there are no reports of damage.

Residents in suburbs including Rowville, Trafalgar, Kilsyth, Hawthorn, Elwood, CBD, Melbourne Airport, South Melbourne, Brunswick, Richmond, Lilydale, Fitzroy, Elsternwick, South Yarra reported feeling the tremors.

Residents told of hearing a loud bang when the quake hit, while tremors were felt across Melbourne.

Michael O'Keefe was in Warragul and said it's the strongest he's ever felt.

"It sounded like a truck was approaching up the street and then it was as if the truck had run into the building. Everything was rattling. It feels a bit like it's not complete, like there is another one to come.''
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

US: One killed, 39 injured in wind storm that blew through Minnesota and into western Wisconsin


Associated Press
Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:01 UTC
Residents in Minnesota and Wisconsin cleaned up Saturday from a fierce storm whose powerful winds toppled trees that killed an 11-year-old girl and injured more than three dozen people.

The storm Friday tore roofs off buildings, blew in garages and left thousands without power. Roads in western Wisconsin were blocked Saturday by fallen trees and debris.

Wisconsin authorities say three of 39 injuries in Burnett County were critical. Emergency officials originally attributed two deaths to the storm but later said one death was an apparent heart attack that might be indirectly related to the storm.

Injuries were also reported in Minnesota's Douglas and Meeker counties.

The storm entered southwest Minnesota on Friday afternoon and took nearly six hours to pass through the state before slipping into northwest Wisconsin, said Matt Friedlein, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Twin Cities. Affected areas in Minnesota included Marshall, Redwood Falls, the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. Western Wisconsin, including Burnett and Douglas counties, also were hard hit.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

US: Storm pushes high winds, rain across western Minnesota

Gretchen Schlosser
West Central Tribune
Sat, 02 Jul 2011 03:00 UTC
Image
© Ron AdamsOlivia city personnel use large equipment to move trees off the streets Friday evening so that citizens could move about in their efforts to clean up the downed trees in town after storms pushed through the region.
A powerful series of thunderstorms, packing high winds, hail and heavy rains Friday afternoon, left a trail of destruction across southern and west central Minnesota.

The National Weather Service reported wind speeds of up to 78 mph in Redwood Falls, with trees and power lines down and roof damage reported in the downtown area. Reports from across Renville County included damage to buildings, trees and power lines.

"It's tough around here," said Olivia Mayor Sue Hilgert. "We have lots of trees down."

The mayor reported many large trees down across her town, with city personnel using plows to move the trees off the streets so that citizens could move about in their efforts to clean up the downed trees.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Illinois, US: Homes damaged, trees down, three hurt from 'supercell' storm

Beth Kramer
Lake County News-Sun
Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:46 UTC
Image
© Michael Schmidt~Sun-Times MediaVictoria Preacely (left), Dshanti Preacely, 8 , and Sandrihia Dickerson, 15, all of Waukegan, stand next to a traffic light that was blown down by the storm Thursday night at Grand Avenue and County Street in Waukegan.
Winthrop Harbor resident Dan Szekely, 42, barely had time to grab his 9-month-old daughter out of her crib as a tree crashed to the ground in Thursday night's storm.

He and he his wife herded their other four children to safety as the storm blew through.

"In my life, I've never experienced anything like that except for seeing the aftermath happen to other people," Szekely said Friday.

Although he was without power Friday, along with more than 12,000 other ComEd customers in Lake County, Szekely started the daunting storm cleanup. Trees smashed two of his cars and demolished the children's playground in the yard. There was also a lot of tree debris, he said.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, 9,800 people in ComEd's northern region, which includes Lake County, were without power, according to a ComEd spokeswoman. A total of 145,000 people had power restored Friday, she said.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Philippines: Rain triggers landslide in Davao City; death toll from earlier flood hits 30


GMA News
Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:36 UTC
Barely had residents in Davao City recovered from flash floods that killed at least 30 people when heavy rain Friday night triggered a landslide that threatened at least 20 families.

The families were brought to an evacuation center in the Matina Crossing area, radio dzBB's Davao affiliate reported early Saturday.

Continuous rain also caused floods near the boundary of Davao City and Davao del Norte, prompting families there to prepare to evacuate, the report added.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the death toll from the flash floods that hit Davao City has risen to 30 as of Friday night.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Volcano erupts in Indonesia

Lu Hui
Xinhuanet.com
Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:44 UTC
Image
© ReutersSpectacular: Mount Soputan spews out hot lava on the outskirts of Manado of Indonesia's North Sulawesi province
Jakarta - A volcano in North Sulawesi province of central Indonesia erupted earlier Sunday, but there is no evacuation, head of the country's volcanology agency named only Surono said here.

Mount Soputan located some 60 km from Manado, capital of the province, started a small eruption at around 02:00 a.m. local time Sunday, spewing over 1,000-meter high hot ash, then it was followed by a big eruption at 06:03 a.m. local time by spewing over 6,000 meters high ash, the head of the agency told Xinhua by phone.

The agency has declared a dangerous zone with a radius of 6.5 kilometers, said Surono.

"So far, there is no evacuation because the closest area where people live is about 8 kilometers from the mount," he said.

Agus Budianto, head of monitoring and search at the agency also said that based on the character of the 1,874-meter high Mount Soputan and the history of its eruption, the authorities may still not need to order an evacuation, Budianto told Xinhua by phone from the headquarters of the agency in West Java on Sunday.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

For Pakistan, monsoon rains bring fresh fears

Mujib Mashal
English.aljazeera.net
Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:33 UTC
Image
© Gallo/GettyThe UN says two to five million people could be affected by this years floods.

Last summer, devastating floods caused by heavy monsoon rains swept across Pakistan, disrupting the lives of close to 20 million people. Nearly 2,000 Pakistanis were killed, 1.5 million houses were destroyed and over 11 million people displaced from their homes.

"The world has never seen such a disaster," UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon declared during a visit to the flood affected areas.

Most of the displaced have returned to start rebuilding their homes, government and UN officials say. But some had nothing to return to, so they remain in displacement camps. Those who did return fear that they might lose it all once again.

The Pakistani government and the United Nations have sent out flood warnings already as the Monsoon season this year arrived a week earlier than usual. Heavy rains will continue through most of July and August as the monsoon moves from northern India and sweeps across Pakistan.
Read More...
Better Earth

India: Two die as flood situation worsens in Bihar


The Hindu
Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:23 UTC
Flood Bihar, India
© PTIPeople walk through a flooded road, after increase in the water level of Ganga and Yamuna rivers, in Allahabad on Monday.
Alert was sounded after two persons died as the overall flood situation aggravated on Monday in Bihar's Gopalganj, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts with rivers maintaining rising trends.

"We have sounded alert across the state with aggravation of flood threat with heavy rains in the catchment areas of major rivers," Bihar Water Resource Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary told reporters.

Two youths drowned while crossing the swollen Budhi Gandak river at a place under Bachhbaria police station in West Champaran district, Choudhary said, adding the state government would provide a compensation of Rs. one lakh to bereaved families of each of the deceased.

Swirling flood waters have inundated several villages under Bagha sub-division in the district, officials said.

The flood waters also entered a portion of Balmiknagar Tiger Reserve in the district, they said, adding the flash floods occurred because of heavy discharge of water in Balmikinagar barrage.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Is anyone surprised? US: FEMA denies flood help


Post Star
Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:51 UTC
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied Gov. Andrew Cuomo's request to provide aid to area residents affected by April's floods.

In late April, the Hudson River and Lake Champlain reached record levels due to a combination of heavy rains and snow melt.

The floods caused an estimated $36 million in damage to public infrastructure across 23 New York counties, including Warren, Washington and Saratoga, and resulted in a federal disaster declaration.

While FEMA has declared the affected region eligible for funding to repair damaged public infrastructure, agency officials found damage to private waterfront properties didn't warrant public financial assistance.
Read More...
Magic Wand

What Beauty! And What Danger it Signifies! Ireland: Noctilucent Clouds Over Tyrone, 3 July 2011

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:37 UTC
Paul Martin emailed pix@irishweatheronline.com with these images of Noctilucent clouds over Omagh, Co Tyrone at 3.10am on Sunday, 03 July 2011.

Image
© Paul Martin

Comment: Let us suggest a reason, why instances of noctilucent clouds are intensifying.

What we suspect has been happening, based on our research thus far, is that the upper atmosphere is cooling because it is being loaded with comet dust, which shows up in the form of noctilucent clouds and other upper atmospheric formations.

Magnificent and mesmerizing noctilucent clouds (also called polar mesospheric clouds), were once considered to be rare. But now they are puzzling scientists with their recent dramatic changes. Apparently, the clouds are growing brighter, are seen more frequently, are visible at ever lower latitudes and are now appearing even during the day. If scientists were allowed to conduct honest interdisciplinary research, such changes wouldn't be a mystery.

They would be able to figure out that comet dust is electrically-charged which is causing the earth's rotation to slow marginally. The slowing of the rotation is reducing the magnetic field, opening earth to more dangerous cosmic radiation and stimulating more volcanism. The volcanism under the sea is heating the sea water which is heating the lower atmosphere and loading it with moisture.

The moisture hits the cooler upper atmosphere and contributes to a deadly mix that inevitably leads to an Ice Age, preceded for a short period by a rapid increase of greenhouse gases and "hot pockets" in the lower atmosphere, heavy rains, hail, snow, and floods.

Read More...